High-Quality Rest

In this category, there are a few different ideas:

There’s sleep— how to get good, ‘restorative’ sleep, and ideas around  ‘sleep hygiene’. This includes suggestions like maintaining a dark, quiet, cool sleeping space, regular bed times, a wind-down period before sleep, zero caffeine, sugar or stimulants after a certain time, as well as teas, supplements or guided imagery recordings to support sleep. (Here’s one of mine: Relax-a-dupa, named after Wellington’s Cuba Dupa festival.) There is mounting evidence showing that getting enough sleep is vital for wellbeing. A recent study demonstrated that it even increases life-expectancy.

There’s also napping. A 20 minute nap can be very restorative and support a renewed period of clear thinking and energy later in the day. Some people don’t like them, because they feel groggy afterwards or find it harder to fall asleep later. Personally, I love them. My preferred way is to listen to some guided imagery designed to support deep rest and calm and have a 20 min kip, possibly while in a restorative yoga pose. (I like Ally Boothroyd’s guided meditations for this) 

Alternatively, I like to do self-hypnosis and not fall asleep, but instead hover on the edge of sleep in a trance state, also called the hypnopompic state. To do this, I lie back at a slight tilt in a comfortable chair, rather than lying flat. With this adjustment, I usually just hover in a delicious kind of trance state. I have a few recordings that guide me into and out of this state for various purposes, that I make for myself depending on what’s up. (Here’s one for easing anxiety.) 

You can also get into this heightened trance-state with physical activity. When the activity is quite intense, a person will eventually get a ‘second wind’. This second wind is thought to be the brain going into a trance state. The difference is the state it’s accessed through movement, rather than stillness. 

Meditation, to me, is similar to this trance-state. And similarly, using the voice as a guide, to support meditation, is an ancient practice. Meditation is usually done sitting upright, with a straight spine. Historically, the physical aspects of yoga practice are in service of supporting a person to be able to sit upright comfortably and meditate for long periods of time. There are many different ways to do it— usually by focussing the mind on one point, like the breath, a voice or a mantra. Or, in Roald Dahl’s famous story “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” he focusses on the heart of a candle flame.

All of these practices give your system high-quality rest and have many other benefits too.